Food bank use has increased by 52% in areas where universal credit has been rolled out for longer than 12 months, MPs’ report says.
Photograph: Mark Pinder

MPs are urging the government to appoint a minister for hunger in the UK to tackle the growing problem of food insecurity, which is affecting one in five children.

The Commons environmental audit committee has accused the government of “turning a blind eye” to hunger and criticised ministers for treating hunger as an “overseas” issue, despite evidence that the UK has among the worst levels of food insecurity in Europe.

The committee heard evidence that more than 2 million people in the UK were food insecure – meaning they struggled to eat regularly and healthily – with an estimated 19% of all under-15’s living with moderately or severely food insecure adults.

Nearly 2 million people in the UK may be undernourished, including up to a third of people admitted to hospital, up to 42% admitted to care homes and a fifth of those received into mental health units, the committee says.

It calls on the government to appoint a minister with accountability for tackling hunger in the UK. “Despite the need for joined-up cross-government action, hunger and food insecurity has fallen between the cracks in government plans,” it says.

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“We are concerned at the government’s turning a blind eye to UK hunger and its lack of progress in measuring and acting upon hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in the UK.”

Benefit delays and sanctions related to universal credit are highlighted by the committee as key drivers of hunger alongside cuts to social care. Food bank use has increased by 52% in areas where universal credit has been rolled out for longer than 12 months, its report says.

The report cites a defence of universal credit by the junior work and pensions minister Justin Tomlinson, who says the new benefit offers “personalised, tailored support, helping get the money to the most vulnerable people in society, which then leads into tackling the issue of food insecurity”.

The report is withering in its response: “We find the minister’s optimism about the universal credit system to be misguided and ill-judged.”

The UK is a signatory to the UN Sustainable Development Goals agenda, adopted in 2015, which aims to end hunger and ensure access to safe and nutritious food. The agenda applies to developed and developing countries alike. MPs say the government is failing to meet its international commitments.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) has added its voice to the call for government action to tackle food insecurity. A survey of more than 4,000 women’s institute volunteers said more than two-thirds had donated to food banks and community food aid projects in the past month.

Ann Jones, the vice-chair of the NFWI and chair of its public affairs committee, said: “Historically, the WI was at the frontline of supplying food to a country ravaged by war; but today it is clear that WI members are battling to tackle food insecurity on a very different front – via donations to food banks and soup kitchens.

“Food poverty is a very real issue, and we have found from our survey that WI members are taking the initiative and donating to food banks and other organisations in their communities. Whilst it is heartening to see the public stepping in like this, this is really just a sticking plaster and there is only so much that can be expected from civil society.”

A government spokesperson said:“Household incomes have never been higher and the number of children living in workless households is at a record low, but we know there’s more to do to ensure that every family has access to nutritious, healthy food.”

Child Poverty Action Group’s chief executive, Alison Garnham, said: “We already have a minister responsible for our social security system which, on any basic understanding of its role, is meant to prevent poverty, destitution and hunger in this country. That we should need reminding of the UN’s sustainable development goals in such a rich country is a scandalous development.”

Anna Taylor, the executive director of the Food Foundation thinktank, said: “The EAC is right to state the urgency of a comprehensive national response to household food insecurity in the UK. We need an approach that considers the shared causes and consequences of food insecurity, hunger, malnutrition and obesity.”